Mexborough First Cllrs demand black bins emptied ASAP

Below is a extract from an email sent to senior leaders/officers in Doncaster MBC yesterday demanding that black bins missed on Wed & Thu last week due to the bad weather are collected asap. We will keep you posted on developments.

“Please see attached screen-shots taken from one of the Mexborough Facebook pages.

The authority was putting out communications up to 2pm yesterday to advise residents to leave black bins out and Suez would get to them asap.

However, we then decided late yesterday afternoon to communicate that Wed and Thu missed collections would not be done. This has gone down like several thousand lead balloons in Mexborough and across the borough!

I notice that the post on the MyDoncaster Facebook page advising of this sudden change in policy has received over 735 posts/complaints from disgruntled local residents….and rightly so! I also note that the Comms team have now stopped replying to posts (as we were doing) as there are so many of them and frustrations/anger is mounting.

Yesterday, I was copied into a number of posts from Shimmer estate residents (via the Comelybank Drive Resident’s Facebook group) who were complaining that their next black bin collection was Wed 14th March. I initially thought that this didn’t sound correct as thought we were due a black bin collection before then in Mexborough.

Some Shimmer residents (already at their wits end due to the ongoing HS2 debacle) also complained that they haven’t yet received a delivery of blue recycling bins.

I posted our own bin calendar advising that we were due a black bin collection on Thu 8th Mar and assumed that this would apply to all/most of Mexborough. Not ideal but not too long to wait.

However, Shimmer resident posted a copy of their own collection calendars to confirm that their next black bin collection is indeed Wed 14th Mar….which means they have to wait four weeks since the last black bin collection in 14th Feb. I find this is unacceptable.

I then spent some time cross-checking other complaints from residents and new collection arrangements across the town….and was extremely alarmed with my findings!

It appears that bin lorries will be coming into Mexborough almost every day next week! For example

How can these new waste collection arrangements achieve cost and operationally efficiencies?!

Can we please make arrangements to empty black bins for those residents who will not receive a black bin collection until w/c 12th Mar. I think it is acceptable (not ideal) for residents to have to wait until next week for this action but not the week after.

It is the monthly Mexborough PACT meeting on Thu 8th at 6.30pm and we are expecting a number of disgruntled residents will be attending to raise their concerns about these issues. Are one of you free to join us to field questions/complaints and provide further information/reassurances re bin collections?

A number of streets are riddled across Mexborough (and no doubt across many parts of the borough) with recycling blown out of green recycling boxes with many residents leaving their boxes out over the next couple of weeks as the confusion and frustrations fester. Can we please arrange for these streets to be cleansed as a priority once the snow has thawed”.